


Old Light

by traitorminion



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: ALL THE GOOD STUFF, Angst, Character Study, Drama, F/M, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-09 01:19:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10400532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traitorminion/pseuds/traitorminion
Summary: “Where are we?”The princess blinked slowly—once, twice—before she turned to look at him. “In between.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after Nyx has put on the Ring of the Lucii and reimagines his encounter with the former kings.

The kings of Lucis, towering in the infinite space above him, around him, laughed when Nyx asked them to lend him their power. Their crystalline, translucent forms shook and glistened in time with their laughter, like ghosts made of stardust, caught in a prism of light, perpetually on the verge of bursting.

 

He wasn’t worthy, they told him and laughed again. This time the void quivered along with them. The burning sensation in Nyx’ body took on new heights and ate deeper into his core.

 

Familiar voices joined the taunting chorus closing in on him, and suddenly it felt as though he were falling—down, down, down until there was nothing left but darkness.

 

“You couldn’t even save us,” his sister said in between giggles. “What makes you think you can save an entire city?”

 

Nyx recoiled even though he knew he was alone in the pitch-black. “I can’t,” he ground out, the words fraying at the edges. But he had to keep going, for the sake of the future. “Not alone. That’s why I’m here.”

 

His mother scoffed. “He doesn’t want to save the city.” Her disdainful tone echoed endlessly in the nothingness. “Right, dear? You want to save the _world_.”

 

Both of them broke into another fit of shrill laughter.

 

Nausea crept its way up Nyx’ throat. Instinctually, his body convulsed. He retched, but nothing came out. He was empty.

 

 _This is your world_ , he thought and squeezed his eyes shut as the next onslaught of sickness hit him. _Don’t you care what happens to it?_

All noise died down abruptly. Light swallowed everything. Nyx whited out.

 

* * *

 

He awoke at the shore of an unknown sea, the grey water so still and even it looked like glass. White clouds overcast the sky. On both sides the beach stretched on and on for miles until the horizon finally absorbed it. Everything was silent. Nothing moved, except for Nyx and the person next to him.

 

He looked up. Beside him sat Princess Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, clad in a simple gown not unlike those the girls in Galahd used to wear, once. Her hair had been set free, running down her shoulders like spun crystal. She was gazing ahead at the unmoving ocean.

 

Nyx dug his fingers into the colorless sand, which felt warm although there was no sun to heat it up.

 

“Where are we?”

 

The princess blinked slowly—once, twice—before she turned to look at him. “In between.”

 

“In between what?”

 

In lieu of responding, she only smiled secretively.

 

His fingers clawed further into the ground. There was no time for this. “Who are you? What do you want?”

 

She averted her eyes and redirected her attention at the sea. “The universe is out of balance. The dark has begun cutting into the light. Kings and Gods have died trying to stop it, but you are human.”

 

“So what?” He cocked his head in an unspoken challenge. “I’m not special enough to save the world?”

 

“That’s not what I meant,” she said. “Are you truly ready to pay the price for what you want?”

 

He grinned darkly. “You think I would’ve put on that damn ring if I hadn’t been ready to die?”

 

“That’s not what I meant,” she said again, closing her eyes. Bright lashes fanned her cheeks like small wings. “The price for power is life, but the price for the time you may wield that power is something else. Are you prepared?”

 

“Stop asking questions you already know the answers to.”

 

Once more she smiled, and nodded. Her eyes flew back open and fixed him with a calm stare. “She will die. Lucis will not fall, and balance will be restored, but she will die nonetheless.”

 

The princess inclined her head in the direction of the sea, and on its calm surface he saw it:

 

Lunafreya cowering in the eye of a storm, holding the lifeless body of her fiancé. She was looking straight ahead in the face of her death. Her eyes seemed to reflect the blue of the raging water. There was no trace of fear in them as the flood overran everything, dragging her in.

 

Nyx felt numb. That wasn’t the future he’d imagined. He’d pictured her, ruling Lucis together with the prince, standing tall and strong and proud as ever.

 

Did she know about this? After all, she was the oracle.

 

Had she known it all along, grown up knowing that she’d been born only to die?

 

He swallowed. “Why are you telling me this?”

 

“It is the price you have to pay,” the princess said. “Now, can you still fight, despite knowing that?”

 

Lunafreya had fought, was still fighting, despite knowing what fate had in store for her. Who would he be, as her servant, not to follow her?

 

“I told you to stop asking questions you know the answers to.”


End file.
